Quayle-Schweikert Primary Race Gets International Press Coverage

Every other week, for National Public Radio affiliate Sunsounds of Arizona, I pre-record a reading of The Economist magazine. These readings are for the visually impaired as well as others who cannot use traditional print media. Sunsounds readings are broadcast 24/7 over KJZZ FM 91.5 facilities (details here).

The Economist, first published in 1843, is a UK-published international journal of economics and politics, with editorial offices all around the world. Editorial content usually leans Left, though not overly so.

This week, in the August 11-17 edition of The Economist, I was pleased to read and record a full-page article on the primary race between Ben Quayle and David Schweikert in AZ CD-6. As the writer points out,

To date, every Republican freshman [in America] facing a contested primary has won. That run of luck will end on August 28th, when two freshmen face each other in a primary contest for the redrawn sixth congressional district of Arizona, in deep-dyed conservative territory near Phoenix.

The article goes on to describe how Quayle and Schweikert have attacked each other aggressively over personal and political differences that seem (to me) to be minor when compared to the fiscal crisis facing America.

Both Quayle and Schweikert are solid Conservatives, and it is a pity that both will not be returning to Congress in 2013. Of course we can credit the so-called “independent” redistricting commission for drawing new district lines that encouraged this battle. But there is nothing that would have prevented these two stalwarts from choosing to run in different districts and winning the primaries in both of them. We’d have all been the better for it.

Both men are young. Hopefully, whoever loses the CD-6 primary will continue his fight for Conservative causes in other venues and perhaps yet again in Congress in 2015 — from a neighboring district!

David Leeper is a retired engineer living in Scottsdale, AZ, with his wife of 45 years. He is currently a volunteer science teacher at AzScienceLab.com. In his 40-year career he held positions from lab technician to technical vice president at Bell Labs, Motorola, and Intel. He holds 16 patents in telecom technology and a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. During his career, he wrote mainly for technical journals including Scientific American. He began writing for WesternFreePress.com in 2011.